A Moonlit Night
by the consulting werewolf
Summary: War changes everything. People on both the losing side and winning side change. Then two people come across each other one night. They see each other in a new light. And everything is new and strange.


"Make me Potter," he says with his voice shaky and eyes determined.  
That was it. Harry stops midway in the attack and stares. Draco Malfoy looks down at him with much contempt and with that sneer etched across the face. Except his gray eyes are shining bright as diamonds, truly challenging Harry. Green eyes clash with the grays.  
Draco feels a rush of adrenaline pass through him as he stares back at Harry Potter and Harry stares back, his eyes hard and angry. Oh how he hated him. Seven years have passed. The war was over. The battle lines erased. But this hatred remains. And so remains the magnetic field that draws these two together. There is no explanation to this; there is no logic behind this. Even though both would vehemently deny this, their fights, spats and the occasional hateful glares were as essential to them as breathing.  
Time stops still. The air gets heavy. They were standing in front of the Requirement Room. It was their last year. The special year that allowed students to retake their seventh year without any Dark Lords hovering around. That did not mean that all darkness was extinguished. Darkness within the walls remained. Personal darkness, internal demons, nightmares, scars and irreparable damages.  
Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter were no different. They too were fighting battles no one knew about.  
Draco was stuck in a nightmarish limbo where he replayed his last year, in Hogwarts, in Malfoy Mansion over and over again. All the blood that could not be scrubbed off his already tainted soul. He was trying to clean out the stains, but they were adamant as hell. And now Harry Freaking Potter has taken to shadowing him because surprise surprise, Malfoy cannot change. But guess what, he has. If anyone would look, they would know. Except he was never going to show, especially to anybody like Harry.  
Harry was still counting his losses and having nightmares. The paranoia that haunted him for years refused to subside. And that is why he found himself following Draco tonight. He had gone out, thinking he should make it to the Astronomy Tower and just stand. Sometimes the air there felt lighter. He could never forget what happened there in sixth year but sometimes the dormitory gets stifling. While he was sneaking around, he had spied Draco making his way to the seventh floor. Purely out of habit, he had followed him. But Draco had caught him.  
He had spun around and jabbed his wand at Harry's throat. Harry had taken out of his wand and now they were locked in battle positions ready to disarm each other anytime now. Draco had only come out of his room, because he wanted to make his way to the Firewhiskey he had hidden in the Requirement Room. Innocent enough.  
Suddenly Draco felt very tired. Not physical exhaustion, a mental seepage of all the strength and rage. He lowered his wand and sighed. Harry lowered his wand as well and waited. Draco rubbed his fingers through his hair and Harry unconsciously noted how the moonlight shining on his pale hair made it seem almost liquid in nature. Draco said, "Listen Potter. I am tired, okay?"  
Harry frowned, "What?"  
"Of this. You don't require following me around. Voldemort was killed by you. You do remember that right?"  
"Yes," Harry crossed his arms, "What are you up to anyway?"  
"None of your business Potter," Draco suddenly gets defensive. Harry sees him putting up his shields again. A nagging voice in his brains wants to learn what makes him so upset. Draco on the other hand, shuts up because he is Head Boy now and he is pretty sure he cannot tell Harry he smuggles in alcohol into the castle every now and then.  
"Draco," Harry tries. He pockets his wand and leans against the wall. "It's…look can we try to be civil here?"  
The sneer returns. Draco snaps, "Civil? As if you would understand that! You and your little posse still judging me! The war is over! The heroes won! Who cares what happens to everyone else!"  
Harry stands up straight again. He got it now. He gets how it must be living with Voldemort under the same roof for months. He gets how influences shape people. He gets that when it all ends—the hate, the war—the people are what remain but they are no longer the same. He could not now relate to his eleven year old self. And he was sure Draco cannot either with his own. He says, "I understand. I am sorry."  
Apology from the Boy Who Lived jolts Draco. He looks harder at Harry. He cannot believe what he heard. Harry feels a little exposed when Draco stares at him, eyes glinting. The anger dissipates a little. He hangs his head and says, "I am sorry Harry."  
Harry raised an eyebrow at the first name mention from Draco. He walks closer to him and puts his hand on Draco's shoulders. He said, "Look. We cannot undo the past but we can try for a better present. I'd like to forgive you for all the crap that you did to me for the last few years. But surroundings make a person. We are both what we are due to the things that happened to us. But I am trying to change and so are you, aren't you?" Draco nods a little, "So, I am not asking you to be friends, because we both know that is an uphill task but we could try. We are different people now Draco, we both deserve to change and grow."  
Draco understood why everybody loved Harry Potter. He did not love him right now but he finds a spark of respect in his heart. Gratitude and relief wash over him. He did not know he needed to hear that till now. He then does the unthinkable. He stumbles forward and wraps his arms around Harry.  
Harry stumbled back a little as the lanky teenager throws his arms around him but gains his balance. He lets Draco embrace him as he too winds his hands around his thin frame. He can feel Draco shaking. Harry feels a little out of sorts comforting his former enemy but he gently pats on his backs.  
Draco silently sobs into Harry's shoulder. The circumstances are odd and he knows that well. If someone had told him that he would cry and find some solace in his Harry Potter's embrace in front of the Room of Requirement in the middle of the night seven years ago, he would have surely inflicted the Cruciatus curse on them. But now, Harry's gentle pat on his back felt soothing and comforting. Oddly, he was okay with all of this.  
Draco whispers, "Thank you. I needed that."  
The whispering tickles Harry's ear and an unknown sensation passes along his spine. He thinks it is shivers but that cannot be. He whispers back, "You're welcome."  
Draco stayed a little bit longer there. Letting Harry hold him and help him stand up. He felt weak and light all of a sudden. It was as if a huge burden had lifted of his heart. A substantial portion of the shadows in his soul lifted a little. And it felt good to be embraced like this. Unlike when Pansy or any of the other girls hugged him and then did things to him he would not actually want to or wish to do at that time. Not like his Slytherin buddies, where hugs were socially awkward experiences. Actually, this did not feel awkward in the slightest.  
Harry hears his heart steadily thumping away. An odd twisting sensation curls inside his stomach. He realized Draco had stopped shaking and crying now. From patting, Harry, to his surprise found, was rubbing his back in slow motions.  
Draco pulls back. His arms still clutching on to Harry. He looked down and opened his mouth to say something but words failed him. Harry nodded his head slightly, acknowledging the non-verbal gratitude from the Slytherin.  
The darkness closed in. The moonlight casts a silvery curtain on the wall, getting reflected on their faces. Draco's hands were around Harry's elbows and vice versa. But still the darkness kept closing in around them, wrapping them in an intimate blanket. It was as if the night, the moon, the clouds playing hide and seek with the moon was eagerly watching the scene unfolding in front of them with bated breath. The shadows danced across the walls and across their faces. For a moment they could not make out their faces in the dark. But then the moon peaked out behind an errant cloud again. Silver washed over them again, casting shadows on Harry's face and making Draco's pale hair, paler still.  
Harry thought Draco looked like a wood nymph and Draco thought Harry looked like one of those classic paintings.  
As soon as these thoughts crossed their minds, their grips loosened. Harry looked down at his feet, his heart racing and Draco turned around, looking out the window. The air was stifling; he inhaled deeply the fresh oxygen.  
What was that?  
Before anybody could answer them, Harry shuffled his feet and murmured a goodnight and walked away. Draco stood there watching his receding back with confusion in his mind. He muttered under his breath, "Goodnight Harry." He turned around and left.

It was a Saturday morning. Breakfast was being consumed in leisure. Harry decided to go down early so he could avoid….well, yeah. But Ron woke up so late, that when they reached the Great Hall, the crowd was thinning and few stragglers were reading the news and talking.  
Ron looked around and spotted Draco at the Slytherin table. He was about to leave the Hall and in his hurry knocked into a first year Hufflepuff. Ron and Harry saw the altercation. Ron said, "Oi, watch where you are going Malfoy!"  
Harry could sense a "Ron moment", i.e., moment when he could belittle Draco, coming so he intervened, "Hey Ron, mate, let it be."  
"Why? He is a Malfoy!"  
Draco wanted to reply but his throat clamped down. So when Harry said, "Stop it Ron! I said let it be! Leave him alone! It is not his fault!" Draco gasped a little. A jittery sensation landed near his gut and he smiled, after hanging his head down, so no one could see him. He walked out of the Hall with the smile on his face.  
Harry had seen that smile. He finds himself satisfied at that acknowledgement and for a moment everything is all right. Except for Ronald Weasley…  
"What Harry? What was that? Why would you stop me?"  
Harry grinned a little, "Nothing. Nothing at all. C'mon, I am famished!"

**A/N. So I have not forgotten my Teen Wolf/Sherlock fic. I have my exams coming just round the corner and I REALLY GOTTA STUDY NOW! T_T**  
**But I leave you with this one shot that I started just randomly and found myself not being able to stop. Bye!**


End file.
